Britain's Paul Casey claimed his second victory of the European Tour season when he won the Johnnie Walker Championship.

Casey clinched his second Gleneagles title in six years with a one-under-par 72 to total 16-under 276, a stroke better than compatriot Andrew Marshall and Denmark's Soren Hansen.

Colin Montgomerie, who led the Scottish event for long periods, finished a further stroke back, a week after his joint runners-up place in the US Open.

Leading Montgomerie by a stroke overnight, Casey surged four shots ahead early on with three opening birdies and he led the field by the same margin at the turn.

With conditions becoming more difficult and Marshall and Hansen setting a difficult target, Casey still needed to keep his wits about him to collect the 440,000 dollars first prize.

He is now only about that same amount behind European money-list front-runner David Howell.

The victory enabled Casey to distance himself from Colin Montgomerie, who stays third on the money-list. The winner felt that the Scot, who double-bogeyed the last at Winged Foot to lose the US Open the week before, had been the man to beat.

"I had one hell of a start but I never felt it was a big enough lead to let me switch off," said Casey.

"Playing with Colin on a Sunday in Scotland is a treat but you also know you are playing with a great player.

"That is what has made this win very, very special. I'm very satisfied because I've been playing good golf for a long time."

Montgomerie acknowledged missing birdies on the ninth and 18th, both par-fives, had "killed" him.

The eight times European number one, 43 during the event, is determined to complete a schedule of 11 successive tournaments, his latest being next week's French Open.

Marshall, 146th on the order of merit coming into the event, proved the surprise package of the final round and his 69 easily outstripped his previous best result of second in the 2003 Madeira Island Open in financial terms.

Hansen continued a good run of form by closing with a 70 for a second successive runners-up spot after a similar showing in the Austrian Open.

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